Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, originally practiced on the Greek isle of Kos. Medicine has come a long way since the days of this ol' boy, but one thing hasn't changed in all that time: life is short and the art long. This is just about my own particular travels on getting from the short white coat to something more.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Greatness

“It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that makes great men”Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think I’m continuing my trend for the oddest experience on general surgery that a third year ever had….Both my senior resident, Neo, and I are reading Beyond Good and Evil at this moment. Nope, we’re not involved in any odd duck book club. Its just serendipity at work, I suppose. We sort of got into a random discussion, of the above aphorism, while we were on call together today (yes they finally let me out of the Norovirus quarantine box of hell that I’d been living in).

I am a bit of cynic when it comes to the general goodness of mankind. I think that we all aspire to greatness, not for any benefit to society or others, but for our own selfish gain. I think that we start out saying grand things but as soon as we find an easier way to personal glory and fame we dump the grandiose society helping methods faster than a funnel cake goes down at my family reunions. In other words, I agree with Nietzsche.

Neo on the other hand believes that the existence of great sentiments makes all men great. In his opinion, ideals, though not always uplifted by everyone, exists to make everyone greater. The duration of an individual’s adherence to an ideal is less important to that person’s greatness than the actual purity of the ideal in question. In fact, that we are all great men and women because the ideals that we only transiently adhere to are so impressive.

Four hours later we took care of two teenagers that had beaten the snot out of each other to the point that they both required surgery. Following that up was a drunk driver and even drunker passenger who needed a few sutures and their child who had their spleen removed and a touch and go course over the evening. Some men and women are great. The rest of us just squeak by.

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Isle of Kos

About Me

I'm a third year medical student and reformed slacker, by necessity, whose embarking on the wonderland of wards. Life has lately narrowed down in scope, but it has definitely become more interesting. I’ve found that this year has brought me some amusing and tragic perspective. And hey, if everyone and their uncle's second cousin can blog, why not me? So this is simply about me, the far superior people who write my exams, and my on-going quest for Coke Zero and a nap.

Agrigento

Empedocles (490 BC - 430 BC) was a Greek presocratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements.

Edinburgh

During the 17th and 18th centuries Edinburgh was known as the Athens of the North due to the advancement of the arts and sciences by its citizens. It was during this period of intellectual revitalization and discovery that Edinburgh physicians begin to have meetings in their homes to discuss the art and practice of medicine. On particularly eminent physician, Sir Robert Sibbald, petitioned King Charles II (the kiddo of the man Cromwell murdered) who granted the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh a Charter in 1681.

Prerequisite Disclaimer

Yes, this is based on life , but it's not nonfiction. Names have been changed and situations altered to preserve my hide. Also, any and all medical images come from google, no actual images seen in patient care settings by this M3 will ever make their way to this site. Any medical information must be taken with a huge grain of salt and is no substitute for actually going to your doctor. I am afterall the equivalent of plankton in the doctor foodchain.